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The Visual/Kinesthetic Effects of Melodic Contour in as it Affects Vocal in Singers of Classical and Theater Repertoire

*Kathryn Barnes-Burroughs, †Christopher Watts, Oren L. Brown, and Jeannette LoVetri

Mobile, Alabama

Summary: The purpose of this investigation was to obtain information from professional singers active in performing of both classical and music theater repertoire with regard to the visual/kinesthetic effect of melodic contour in musical notation as it affects vocal timbre. The evaluation of data gathered during the study indicates that there is reason to investigate the resulting postural shifts of the head and because they are guided by visual maps of melodic contour and its inversion. Significantly, it was discovered that the quality produced when a singer’s head and neck postures followed the natural melodic contour of the was in no case considered to be the most pleasing of the conditions studied and that, in many cases, the tone quality produced when a singer’s head and neck postures followed a map of the inversion of the melodic contour was judged to be much improved. The results of the study also indicate that the development of new technology for the general teaching studio, designed to address these effects, may be useful to these singers. Key Words: Posture—Timbre—Melodic contour—Classical voice—Music theater voice—Head and neck—Tone quality—Visual/kinesthetic effect— Technology.

INTRODUCTION Accepted for publication August 2, 2004. Challenge Supported in part by a faculty development grant awarded by the Graduate School at the University of South Alabama. In June 2002, research was presented at the Voice Presented at the VoiceFoundation’s 33rd Annual Symposium: Foundation’s 31st Annual Symposium: Care of Care of the Professional Voice, Philadelphia, June 4, 2004. the Professional Voice that identified three primary From the *Department of Music, †Department of Speech criteria commonly recognized among peda- Pathology and Audiology, University of South Alabama, gogues for the determination of talent in untrained Mobile, AL. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Kathryn singing voices. Along with accuracy in intonation 1 Barnes-Burroughs, DMA, School of Music, Texas Tech Univer- and evidence of musicality, Watts et al demon- sity,Box42033, Lubbock, TX79409-2033. E-mail:barnesburr@ strated that beauty of timbre or tone color was also aol.com determined to be essential in the recognition of un- Journal of Voice, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 411–419 0892-1997/$30.00 trained singing talent. ą 2005 The Voice Foundation Within institutions dedicated to the development doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2004.08.001 of elite singing voices, talented persons with the

411 KATHRYN BARNES-BURROUGHS ET AL412 most consistent quality of pleasing tone color are prized and promoted. This is generally agreed to be true, both in classical voice and music theater voice training; it is the goal of most singing teachers to develop greater consistency in the tone quality of the student by use of the most healthy and efficient pedagogical means possible. One of the most commonly observed pedagogical FIGURE 1. Melodic contour in standard musical notation. challenges to the achievement of this goal is the often-encountered visual/kinesthetic connection of the singer’s body to the perceived motion of notes on a page of printed music. Because Western music theposture of the head and neck “alter the shape of the is notated on a vertically fluctuating horizontal grid, vocal tract.” Vennard6 then submits that changes in students of singing may sometimes mimic the singing posture may produce tension and that motion of those notes across the page, raising and “ that passes through a tense throat is differ- lowering postures of the head and neck in response ent from one that comes from a relaxed throat.” to the seen in the melodic contour. That Following suit, Bunch7 contributes that changes in is to say, if one was to “connect the dots” of musical postural shifts may very well result in “undesirable notation, an irregular waveform would emerge to changes in vocal quality.” Through this virtual dis- reflect the intervallic movement of that melody cussion of two of the leading pedagogues of our through the pitches or fundamental of the era, and through further corroboration by fellow desired sound. This waveform is known as melodic voice scientist Johann Sundberg,8 we find the crux shape or contour and is evident in every motive, of the relationship between postural shifts of the period, and phrase of a melody in music.2 Figure 1 head and neck with resulting variable tone colors maps the melodic contour of a musical notation in the singing voice. These shifts in posture may example with a continuous chain-like bubble line produce less-than-favorable results. through the note heads, proceeding from left to right. In the field of , however, postural This study focuses on the resulting vocal timbre shifts have proven to be useful tools for singers. produced by a singer when a nodding motion of Researchers such as Dejonckere and Lebacq9 have the head and neck follows this contour as that singer documented immediate improvement of voice qual- produces each tone of the melody. It further investi- ity simply by changing basic postural positions. gates the possibility of a new pedagogical tool ded- Similarly, the leaders of music theater methods, such icated to the correction of this phenomenon. as Jeannette LoVetri and Jo Estill, who are still determining the standard use of these methods, use Argument for investigation elevated postures of the head and neck for certain For the most part, existing studies and pedagogical vocal and technical effects. Still, classically trained texts address the relationship between the postures teachers of singing like James McKinney10 and Oren of the head and neck and vocal tone quality or timbre Brown11 follow in the tradition of warning against in broad strokes. Meribeth Bunch3 states that optimal the “habit of raising the chin to ‘reach’ for high vocal quality is the result of a “sense of balance rather notes.” Yet, both classical and music theater authori- than tension,”despite theinterplay ofthe antagonistic ties tend to prize consistent sound production suit- muscles of the breath, , and resonators needed able to the artistic needs of the performance. to produce a pleasing tone. Similarly, William Ven- It is possible, then, that these seemingly opposing nard’s4 famous marionette image of ideal posture views of the positive and negative effects of postural for singing refers to the balance of the head sus- shifts are facets of the same technical paradigm pended from its top, along with the chest comfort- intended for easier use of the vocal mechanism by ably elevated, and the pelvis hanging from the spine. singers and consistent tonal output. As with Ven- To this general image, Bunch5 adds that changes in nard’s marionette image, apparently defying gravity

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FIGURE 2. Authority perceptual measures chart. in its postural supports, most students of singing Voice Institute at USA: A Regional Center for have been told that “down is up” and “up is down” Voice Studies and Research at the University of with regard to the image we have of changing pitch. South Alabama. All participants had normal hearing, We have been taught that we should approach no history of chronic vocal pathologic conditions, no each higher pitch (than the one we are singing) as previous voice therapy, no history of drug or alcohol if it were lower, and each lower pitch as if it were abuse, no history of smoking, and no current aller- higher—all this in an effort to decrease strain on gies or voice problems at the time of testing. the mechanism and to increase usable for singers. Consequently, part of the art of singing Data acquisition is our ability to reconcile these directional opposites. This investigation was primarily contingent on The purpose of this study, then, is to investigate perceptual feedback as judged by 2 voice authorities the possibility that if we visually invert the concepts in a blind real-time setting with the 8 subjects. Oren of “high” and “low” with regard to notes within the L. Brown (primary, published classical singing au- melodic contour of musical notation, we might then thority) and Jeannette LoVetri (primary, published derive a more pleasing and consistent vocal timbre music theater singing authority) were seated behind a through training. screen and instructed to rate 8 voice samples per subject. They were not aware of the conditions set for the subjects in producing each sample, aside from METHODS the shift from classical singing voice to music theater Participants singing voice; because each was a teacher in both Eight trained, professional singers between the classical and music theater settings, both rated all ages of 21 and 45 years who regularly perform both samples. Four classical samples and 4 music theater classical and music theater repertoire volunteered samples produced from the same subject were rated as research subjects from the group of registrants at as either (1) unacceptable, (2) acceptable, or (3) the First Annual Pedagogy and Week of the ideal on an Authority Perceptual Measures Chart,

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FIGURE 5. Condition C—head and neck downcast. FIGURE 3. Condition A—postural shifts with natural me- lodic contour. and 4 in a music theater singing voice. The melody was sung on the [a] in the following such as seen in Figure 2. Brown and LoVetri were conditions: also instructed to circle the most appealing sample Condition A: The subject was instructed to sing (in terms of vocal timbre) of the 4 classical and then the melody while reading the musical notation the 4 music theater samples for each subject. and allowing the head and neck to follow the We used the Computerized Speech Lab (CSL; Kay curve of the normal melodic contour. Elemetrics Corporation, Lincoln Park, NJ) as a Condition B: The subject was instructed to sing signal acquisition device for the voice samples. the melody while reading the musical notation Data from these samples were acquired for possible and holding the head and neck in an elevated future use by researchers in analysis and for posture throughout. recording examples for research presentation. Condition C: The subject was instructed to sing the melody while reading the musical notation Procedures and holding the head and neck in a downcast Subjects were instructed individually to stand posture throughout. before a music stand containing musical notation of Condition D: The subject was instructed to the first 10 notes of the melody “Somewhere over the remove the masking on the bottom part of the sheet Rainbow” (from The Wizard of Oz), with the bottom music and reveal an inversion map of the melodic portion of the page remaining covered until the final contour of the melody. The subject was then in- sample was collected in each of the two styles structed to sing the melody while reading the (classical and music theater voice). A common musical notation and allowing the head and neck midrange key of C major was chosen for the exer- posture to follow the curve of the inversion. cise. The starting pitch (C4 or middle C) was gen- erated from an electric piano keyboard before each sample to ensure consistent intonation in all samples. RESULTS A head-mounted was used by us for The Authority Perceptual Measures of Brown and acoustic recordings. Each subject produced 8 sam- LoVetri are represented in Figures 7 and 8. The ples of the melody, 4 in a classical singing voice

FIGURE 6. Condition D—postural shifts with inversion map FIGURE 4. Condition B—head and neck elevated. of melodic contour.

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FIGURE 7. Authority perceptual measures chart: Brown. raw data results are interesting in several aspects. divergent across Conditions B, C, and D. Never- Although vocal quality varied with the instrument theless, neither authority rated any subject in and use of each subject, both authorities were able either style at his or her best in the natural melodic to rate a relative “best” sound for each subject in contour posture of Condition A. the 2 singing style products, shown as the score When percentages of perceptual improvement in in parentheses in each case. Brown’s “best” product a compilation of the two Authority Perceptual choices almost consistently favored the downcast Measures Charts compiled in Table 1 were assessed, posture timbre product of Condition C or the in- more subjects produced their “best” vocal timbre verted melodic contour posture product of Condi- (indicated on the chart by parentheses) when singing tion D. LoVetri’s “best” product choices were more with the head following an inverted melodic contour

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FIGURE 8. Authority perceptual measures chart: LoVetri. map in the context of the classical singing voice, Interestingly, “best” ratings were less conclusive compared with the other conditions: 0% of the when subjects sang in their music theater voices, results favored the timbre produced by head and but they still indicated a substantial lean toward the neck postures following the normal melodic contour downcast posture of Condition C: 0% of the results of the melody (Condition A), 19% favored the timbre favored the timbre produced by head and neck produced by an elevated posture of the head and neck postures following the normal melodic contour of (Condition B), 19% favored the timbre produced by the melody (Condition A), 19% favored the timbre a downcast posture of the head and neck (Condition produced by an elevated posture of the head and neck C), and 62% favored the timbre produced by head (Condition B), 25% favored the timbre produced and neck postures following the inverted melodic by head and neck postures following the inverted contour (Condition D). melodic contour (Condition D), and 56% favored the

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TABLE 1. Composite of “Best” Singing Timbre Perceived at All Conditions Subjects with Best at Best at Best at Best at vocal timbre ➡■ Condition A Condition B Condition C Condition D (natural melodic (elevated posture) (downcast posture) (inverted melodic contour postures) contour postures) Classical singing 0% 19% 19% 62% Music theater singing 0% 19% 56% 25%

timbre produced by a downcast posture of the head Analysis also indicates that vocal re- and neck throughout (Condition C). sulting from such postural shifts must be judged to When the composite scores of the two authorities be suitable by the existing authority hearing the are analyzed statistically as seen in Table 2, one vocal output. In life, this authority is in the position noteworthy result is suggested. Based on the com- to choose or reject the vocal product for its purposes, piled descriptive statistics rating each subject as pro- including those such as a casting director, producer, ducing (1) unacceptable, (2) acceptable, or (3) ideal , conductor, agent, wedding direc- timbres in each condition, as derived from the two tor, director, club owner, school ensemble di- Authority Perceptual Measures, subjects were rated rector, or voice faculty. For those talented singers as having a better singing voice when singing with who seek training, however, the voice studio is the the head following an inverted contour in the context site for development of the most pleasing vocal of a classical singing voice, compared with the other timbre possible for any individual instrument. conditions. However, ratings compared in this way Therefore, the first authority of significance in the were inconclusive when subjects sang in a of a developing singer is the singing theater voice. teacher. As Oren Brown writes in his pedagogical treatise Discover Your Voice,11 it is the responsibility of DISCUSSION the singing teacher to assist the student in “establish- The purpose of this investigation was to obtain ing kinesthetic actions to bring about automatic re- information from professional singers active in the sponses.” Not all actions or responses in singing performance of both classical and music theater rep- are intuitive. Therefore, if developing singers are ertoire with regard to the visual/kinesthetic effect of challengedto processsuchseemingoppositesasbody melodic contour in musical notation as it affects the posture versus gravity, muscular function versus production of vocal timbre. The evaluation of data breath management, and natural melodic contour gathered during the course of the study indicates versus desired visual/kinesthetic response, we might that a reason exists to investigate the resulting then benefit from the design of a program for the postural shifts of the head and neck as they are teaching studio that would address this phenomenon. guided by visual maps of melodic contour and its Dr. Robert Thayer Sataloff points out in his text inversion. In addition, it was discovered that in no Professional Voice: the Science and Art of Clinical case was the tone quality produced considered to be Care12 that the “best acoustic analyzers are still the the most pleasing when a singer’s head and neck human and brain.” This is why the singer and postures followed the natural melodic contour of the the spend so many years conditioning melody. Nevertheless, in many cases, tone quality a sense of the ideal set of kinesthetic actions that was much improved in conditions when a singer’s will result in a desired vocal quality. Obviously, head and neck postures followed a map of the in- voice teachers have been dealing with this phenome- verted melodic contour. non for as many years as singers have performed

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TABLE 2. Descriptive Statistics of Base Timbre Ratings Singing style Condition Average rating SD Classical Natural contour (A) 1.69 0.704 Head elevated (B) 1.88 0.342 Head downcast (C) 1.63 0.619 Inverted contour (D) 2.25 0.683 Music theater Natural contour (A) 1.31 0.479 Head elevated (B) 1.56 0.512 Head downcast (C) 1.81 0.544 Inverted contour (D) 1.75 0.577 with standard Western musical notation. Fortunately, warranted with regard to the visual/kinesthetic ef- however, current technology offers us a unique op- fects of melodic contour in musical notation as it portunity to find new ways of conditioning visual/ affects vocal timbre in singers of classical and music kinesthetic responses and actions in the general theater repertoire. Further investigation into the sci- voice studio. Development of these alternative meth- entific causes of these kinesthetic responses to me- ods follow the spirit of Sataloff’s treatise on objec- lodic contour mapping and the resulting vocal tive voice function technologies,13 with the caveat timbres appropriate to classical and music theater that such technologies “are not substitutes for good singing may also be indicated. Moreover, it may be studio teaching techniques but rather extra tools… of interest to study the spectral representations of technology that may enhance teaching efficiency vocal timbres created from conditions of response and consistency.” to melodic contour mapping and its inversion as they With the encouragement of the results of this are appropriate to classical and music theater singing. study, good support seems to exist for further consid- Finally, the results of the study indicate that the eration of a real-time pedagogical tool developed to development of new technology for the general address the visual/kinesthetic response to melodic teaching studio, designed to address these effects, contour and following in the tradition of real-time may be useful for singers. displays such as the CSL (eg, voice range profile, real- time pitch, and spectrogram) and the user-friendly Acknowledgments: The authors would like to dedicate studio technology of Garyth Nair.14 Continuing de- the work of this study and its resulting investigations velopment of a computer-based ready-scan inver- to the memory and legacy of Oren L. Brown, a great sion program, designed to improve quality and contributor to the fields of vocal health and singing, a caring mentor, a cherished colleague, and an open efficiency in the teaching studio, is now under way. collaborator to the end of his days. A real-time program capable of displaying melodic contour mapping and inversion, made simultane- ously visible with common practice notation, will REFERENCES undergo testing at Texas Tech University School of 1. Watts C, Barnes-Burroughs K, Andrianopoulos M, Carr Music in the spring of 2005. It is the intent of the M. Potential factors related to untrained singing talent: a developers to bring the results of this testing to survey of singing pedagogues. J Voice. 2003;17:298–307. the Voice Foundation in the near future, with the 2. Berry W. Smaller structural units. In: Berry W. Form in hope of contributing to its ongoing mission of cross- Music. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall; 1966:1–31. discipline understanding in our vocal health industry. 3. Bunch M. Dynamics of the Singing Voice. New York: Springer; 1997:102. 4. Vennard W. Singing: The Mechanism and the Technic. New York: Carl Fischer, Inc.; 1967:19. CONCLUSION 5. Bunch M. Dynamics of the Singing Voice. New York: Springer; 1997:104. On the basis of the results of this study, there is 6. Vennard W. Singing: The Mechanism and the Technic. considerable indication that further research is New York: Carl Fischer, Inc.; 1967:101.

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